The present invention relates to a method and device for conducting books out of a book casing-in machine.
From German Laid-Open Specification 1 536 505, for example, a book casing-in machine is known which has a circulating conveyer with chains which lie in mutually parallel vertical planes and are guided round deflecting wheels, and a large number of saddle plates at equal distances from one another, which are articulated on the chains and aligned horizontally. For the joining-together of the book block and the book cover, the so-called xe2x80x9ccasing-in operationxe2x80x9d, the book blocks are fed in, standing on a web with their front edge, by a conveyer and, in the process, are pushed onto a separating component, so as to then be taken over by the saddle plates, in a manner straddling the latter, through the fact that the saddle plates travel through the separating component.
For the casing of the book blocks into the book covers in a register-true manner, pressing-on elements are provided which can be moved upwards, synchronously with the conveyer, and operate alternately and which are laid on the back of the book or on the back of the book covers and are capable of traveling in closed, loop-shaped paths of movement, upwards from a starting position adjacent to the book, and also downwards on a path which is separate from the path of movement of the book, and back into the starting position again.
The books which are carried by the saddle plates, in a manner straddling the latter, and which move downwards on the perpendicular path of movement are delivered in a book-discharging device, through the fact that the books are supported on a stripping component with a transit slot for the saddle plates and are deposited on a conveyer via a relocating plate which moves to and fro. When the books are discharged, there is a danger of their becoming detached, since the downwardly moving books are supported onto the stationary stripping components in an unbraked manner and are deposited by being tipped onto a continuously running conveyer belt.
In a book shaping-and-pressing machine which follows the book casing-in machine and is represented and described, by way of an example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,322, the books are placed and aligned on their backs. Shapers press the block of the book into the back of the book cover which is supported in a shaping web. The aligning station is followed by pressing devices which are disposed in a straight row and at equal distances from another and which each have a pair of pressing plates, which are opposed at a variable distance, for exerting a pressing effect on the two sides of a book. Associated with the pressing devices are heated fold burning-in rails, which in each case are opposed in pairs at a variable distance, for shaping the fold of the book cover. The fold-shaping rails are located on a carriage and simultaneously serve as transport means in order to move the books on stepwise from station to station, only to then return to their starting position for the purpose of picking up and transporting a subsequent book.
The intention is, by means of the so-called xe2x80x9cfold burning-in operationxe2x80x9d, to form a recessed, triangular line on the covering material of the book cover along the inner edge of the paperboard of the book board under the effect of heat on the covering material of the book cover. In order to achieve a permanent shape for the fold, sticking is effected via a coating of hot melt or a reinforced coating of dispersion glue in the region of the fold of the book block.
The books which have not yet been completely pressed and shaped in the fold are exposed, during infeed and alignment, to loadings which can lead to the displacement or detachment of the board sides from the book block. In the course of the subsequent burning-in of the fold and pressing of the books as a whole, creases are then impressed on the insides of the boards. The devices in this machine are relatively expensive.
In German Laid-Open Specification 197 48 832, a book shaping-and-pressing machine is represented and described, which is represented as a compact, simple structural unit which can be manufactured cost-effectively. In a first station, very high pressing forces are transmitted, as a result of linear contact, by means of pressing rollers which are driven in rotation and roll along on the lateral faces of the books and, in the process, possible inclusions of air are progressively eliminated by rolling-out. In a second station, the books are aligned in a crease-free manner as a result of the preceding pressing operation and the consequent firm sticking, and are shaped in the fold by means of fold-shaping rails and pressing rails for the region close to the fold.
Suitable conveying elements are provided for moving the books forward through the book shaping-and-pressing machine in a cyclical manner.
From German Laid-Open Specification 1 99 55 993, for example, a book casing-in machine is known which has a run-in conveyer which feeds the book blocks, with their backs pointing upwards, to a lower picking-up point and has an arrangement which spreads out the outer end papers of the book blocks and a gripper which grasps the book blocks between the spread-out outer end papers and conveys them out of the lower picking-up point and into an upper joining point.
At the joining point, the book block, which is coated with glue on the outer end papers on the path upwards, is stuck to the inner faces of the sides of the board of the book cover, which is fed by folding flaps according to a cycle and is held in position, through the fact that shaping rails belonging to a conducting-out conveyer first of all engage in the fold of the book, the gripper releases the book block and travels downwards from the book and the folding flaps bring the spread-out book boards up to the book block in a closing movement. The book which is held by means of the shaping rails of the conducting-out conveyer is moved out of the joining point, after the release of the book cover by the folding flaps, and delivered up to a known book-delivery system.
The object of the invention consists in providing a method and device for conducting books out of a book casing-in machine, which permit an improvement in quality in the manufacture of books using the casing-in, shaping and pressing process steps, and which are distinguished by a relatively simple and cost-effective mode of construction.
By means of the method and device according to the invention, the folds of the books are gripped, during the casing-in operation, by shaping rails belonging to a conducting-out conveyer, and are shaped by the use of force and, optionally, heat. After the casing-in operation, pressing rails belonging to the conducting-out conveyer which are additionally brought up to the regions of the fold of the book, permit secure transport and are already pressing that region of the book cover which is close to the fold, against the book block. As a result of the taking-over of the book, which is still held by the conducting-out conveyer, by a book-delivery gripper which catches onto the sides of the boards in a force-locking manner, the book is safely deposited from its vertical position, with the back of the book pointing upwards, onto the lower roller of a pair of pressing rollers in the lying-flat condition. The upper roller alights when at a standstill and, jointly with the lower roller, conveys the book out of the book casing-in machine by rolling along on the sides of the book. In the process, the pressing operation begins in a region which has already been pressed on by the pressing rails of the conducting-out conveyer, so that the sides of the book boards are stuck firmly throughout, over their full area and without air inclusions, to the outer end papers of the book block.